


crazy kids

by avioletqueen



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2728418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avioletqueen/pseuds/avioletqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin has always been the outcast nerd, working too hard and playing too little. All that changes when she ends up on the trip of her life, hiking in the Appalachians with an outlandish group of friends. || AU based on the Bollywood movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i bought a one way ticket

**Author's Note:**

> work title: loosely translated from "yeh jawaani hai deewani"  
> chapter title from: "west coast friendship", owl city.

“Oh my god, no way.”

Clarke is rudely interrupted from checking the groceries in her cart against the list in her hand by a loud, vaguely familiar voice. Looking up, it isn’t hard to find the source of the disturbance, dressed in jean shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and boots that looked like they belong in a club rather than on the floor of a Target. 

“Clarke Griffin!” The long-haired girl exclaims, tossing said hair over her shoulder before giving her a grin. Clarke smiles back uneasily, the gears in her mind going at top speed as she tries to remember the name of the girl in front of her. 

“—Octavia Blake, right?” she asks finally, arriving at the name just before the silence would’ve grown awkward. Octavia Blake had been somewhat infamous at the college they’d both gone to, with the raging parties she threw and the boys’ hearts she broke. She’d definitely not been a part of Clarke’s crowd – but then again, Clarke never really had a crowd. Following in her mother’s footsteps and studying pre-med had put a significant damper on her social life – and anyway, no one in college ever wanted to hang out with the nerd. At least, not the kind of nerd she was. She didn’t game or program or win medals in quiz bowl. She just… crammed. 

Though now is not the time to feel mopey and insignificant. Especially now that her mother has rejoined her, a hand at her shoulder as she starts pushing her cart into one of the lines. Octavia pushes her own in the line next to her and continues talking excitedly. 

“You were that pre-med whiz, right? What are you doing now that we’ve graduated?” she asks excitedly. 

“Just… studying in preparation for med school,” Clarke admits with a shrug. It’s true, they had just graduated a couple weeks ago, but that didn’t give Clarke a reason to waste all her time. (Not that she really knew what she would do if she didn’t have her books to distract her.)

“What are you studying, Octavia?” her mom asks politely, and Clarke very nearly groans. As great as Abby Griffin can be, she has very distinct opinions on what was worthwhile to study. And Octavia Blake can be counted on to not fit within that box of acceptable educational pursuits. 

“Oh, I’m not studying anymore. Got my degree in Creative Writing and got the hell out of there, am I right?” Luckily, the Blake girl seems immune to the judgment radiating from Mrs. Griffin at the moment. “I’m actually heading out to hike up this trail in the Appalachians tomorrow. I’m going with a couple friends of mine – actually, you should know them, Clarke. Monty Green and Jasper Jordan? They were in our class. So was Raven Reyes, and she’s coming.”

“Right.” Clarke gives her a tight smile and shrugs a shoulder. The names are familiar to her, but she’s definitely never talked to any of them before. “Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, definitely. Anyway, see you around! Have fun studying!” And though her voice is cheery and genuine, as is her wave as she moves to pay for her groceries and leave, Clarke can’t help but feel a little miffed as she waits in line. As if anyone can have fun studying when faced with a blatant reminder of how much of the whole world is out there that they haven’t seen.

“Excuse me, miss?” 

Clarke is snapped out of her reverie by the cashier in the other line. “Um, are you talking to me?” 

“Yeah, your friend left something here. Could you get it to her?” the teenager asks, waving a brochure in the air before passing it over to her. She hesitates, biting back the knee-jerk reaction to say the two of them weren’t really friends, then takes the pamphlet from him as her mom pays for their groceries. 

Appalachian Trail Adventures!, the front of the brochure exclaims, and in a momentary bout of overwhelming curiosity, she stuffs the brochure into her purse, with the full intention of looking it over more closely that night. 

Maybe it’s time for her to go out and see the world for herself.

\---

“Oh, and we met a friend of Clarke’s today at the supermarket.”

Abby Griffin is detailing the entire minutiae of their day to Marcus Kane, a family friend who’s come over for dinner yet again. Ever since her father had died a couple years ago, Kane has been over at her house more and more for dinner. Clarke doesn’t particularly like him, though he seems to be a fan of her. How much of that is him simply pretending, so that he could get on her mom’s good side? Clarke guesses quite a lot. Her mom is a pretty influential member on City Council, after all, besides being one of the best doctors in town. 

“Not a friend, Mom,” Clarke reminds her dully as she pushes her food around on her plate. She can’t wait for this dinner to be over so that she can get to her room and look at that brochure. It’s been the only thing on her mind all evening, after returning from the supermarket and helping her mom make the meal. 

“Honestly, I’m kind of glad to hear that,” Abby says seriously, and Clarke has to focus hard to prevent herself from rolling her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with studying Creative Writing, but how is that girl going to get a job?”

“Absolutely. The job market is tough enough these days, even with qualifications,” Kane says, and Clarke spears a carrot on her fork with slightly more force than necessary.

“And she’s not even aware of her situation. This girl is going off on some trip to the mountains when she should be looking for work.” Abby shrugs and takes a drink of water. “All I can say is that I’m glad Clarke isn’t anything like that.”

“What do you mean?” Clarke asks, knowing her tone is snappier than it should be. But at the moment, she’s physically unable to restrain herself. “You’re glad that I don’t have any friends who I could actually go on a trip with? You’re glad I’ve never done anything with my life except study? Wow, Mom, thanks.”

“Clarke!” Her mom doesn’t raise a hand against her, but the shocked tone of her voice is the closest thing to a slap that Clarke’s ever experienced. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying that I’m 22 and I’ve been living the life that you’ve planned out for me since I was born, and I’m tired of it.” There’s silence at the table for a minute before Clarke sets her silverware down and gets to her feet. “I’m not hungry anymore,” she announces before turning on her heel and heading to her room, ignoring her mother’s calls after her. Kane demands that she come back to the table, and she escapes her to her room even faster, slamming the door behind her. 

Running her hands through her hair, she collapses on her bed with a grunt, staring up at her ceiling. Usually she can keep her temper under check when her mom and Kane start talking like this, but today has proved to be a notable exception. 

At least now she can take a look at the brochure. She pulls herself up into a sitting position and reaches for her purse, fishing out the informational pamphlet before actually reading it. It details the flora and fauna one can expect to find during a hike, different gear, hiking trails . . .

And then at the back of the pamphlet, scrawled in messy, loopy handwriting, are a series of notes, the first item jotted down being a URL. Clarke immediately pulls out her laptop, going to the website that it leads to. A picture of a beautiful view from the peak of one of the mountains heads a page, and though there’s plenty of other information on the page, all she can see is the large orange button that proclaims “Book Your Trip Today!”

She’s about to think it over when she decides she doesn’t want to. She has money from her summer job as a research aide last year. She doesn’t have anything she has to do in the next couple weeks, and she really, really wants to piss off her mom right now. 

So she hits the button, signing up for the group trip that leaves the train station at 10 AM – the same one that Octavia and her friends are on. Clarke doesn’t realize she’s holding her breath until the confirmation page appears and she lets out a long sigh. 

She’s really doing this. Now, after she’s spent her money, isn’t the time to get faint-hearted about this. Downstairs, there are faint sounds of her mother and Kane putting the dishes away, and she ignores them. 

After all, it’s time for her to pack. 

\---

The commotion at the train station that morning is ridiculous, as different guides try to assemble their tour groups before they board the train. Clarke pulls her large, heavy suitcase through the crowds, looking for her train number and shifting the backpack slung over her shoulders every so often. It isn’t a hiking bag, but then again, she hadn’t had time last night to run out and get all the necessary supplies for this trip. 

Just another sign that this is a bad idea, her mind tells her, and she shakes her head to try to banish the thought. Even if this is a bad idea, she’s 22 and she’s never left home on her own before, other than to go to university. She has a lifetime of mistakes to make, and if this was going to be one of them, so be it.

Arriving at the correct platform is easy enough, and soon she’s checked in with her tour and is all ready to board the train. It’s at that moment that she realizes how heavy her huge suitcase is, and how hard it’s going to be to get it onto the train. Biting her lip, she looks around for someone she can ask for help, but her tour guide is busy checking someone else in. 

In the end, she does find someone – though it’s more like he finds her, the way he tries to exit the train where she’s trying to enter. “Do you need something?”

“Yeah, um, could you help me get my suitcase on the train?” she asks, looking him over. Something about him looks like she should know him, but whether it’s the dark hair, the distinct muscles in his arms, or the way he carries himself, she has no idea. 

“You’re here for the ten day Appalachian hike?” he asks, and when she nods her head, he snorts. “Then why did you pack like you’re going to spend a month in the Bahamas? Girls. My sister’s literally the same.”

“… you’re Bellamy Blake,” she blurts out, instead of, say, responding to him like a normal person would. His name just strikes her so abruptly that she can’t help but blurt it out. At his totally lost look, she explains further. “We went to the same college. I was in your sister’s class.”

“Oh, you must be Harper, right?” Clarke frowns instinctively, and he backtracks. “Wait – I meant Mel.”

“Clarke Griffin,” she says shortly, holding out her hand to shake. 

“Right, of course, Clarke Griffin,” he says with an air of newfound knowledge, shaking her hand. “You’re Monroe’s cousin or something.”

“No, I’m not,” she says exasperatedly. Blake had thought himself way too cool in college to get to know people like her, and the age difference definitely didn’t help. “Trust me, you don’t know me. Can you just help me get my suitcase on the train?”

“Well, what’s in it for me?” he asks lightly, and she can’t help rolling her eyes. “I’m not a porter.”

“Good, cause I’m not going to pay you,” she retorts. “Look, it’s not that hard. You just help me right now, and we don’t have to talk to each other again. That’s what’s in it for you.”

He doesn’t respond to that. Instead, he just raises his hands in surrender before leaning to pick up her suitcase and drag it into the train behind him. He lifts it into the luggage compartment with relative ease, and Clarke should be relieved, but there’s something about the look on her face that worries her. 

“Thanks. I’ll just be going now,” she says hesitantly, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at the seating compartment their group has been assigned to. 

“Go ahead,” he says magnanimously, and she knows something is wrong. She just can’t figure out what. 

Entering her seating compartment, she sees that most of the seats are full. In fact, there are only two seats left, across from Octavia and a long-haired girl that Clarke thinks she knows. 

It hits her as she approaches the seat, Bellamy following behind her with an easy slouch in his posture, hands in his jacket pockets. “Wow, look at that. It looks like we’re going to be seatmates for the next ten hours, princess.”

“Clarke Griffin? You’re here?” Octavia demands, turning to make eye contact with Clarke. “Oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun.”

Clarke is starting to regret ever going with her mom to the supermarket in the first place.


	2. over the worst of it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from: "chelsea dagger", the fratellis.

It’s been an hour, and Clarke has been doing a pretty good job of avoiding conversation with anyone. Even when Jordan and Green beg to sit with them and they’ve crammed in six people in seating meant for four, Clarke just plugs her earphones in and thanks goodness that she’s sitting near the window with a view. 

It’s not that she doesn’t want to make friends. It’s just that she knows she’s going to be awkward with this group. The Blakes are party people, Jordan and Green smoke and drink like it’s going out of style, and Raven Reyes . . . 

Well, Clarke knows her tangentially, in that the first guy she ever kissed was going out with Raven when he’d kissed her. They’d broken up since, though, and Clarke doesn’t feel the need to let her know what happened, but it’s still unnerving to be sitting across from her. 

So she’s got her earphones in instead, listening to one of her dad’s old rock albums at full volume. She’s gotten a few songs into the London Calling album when someone rudely rips out one of her earbuds. 

“C’mon, Princess. We’re starting a game of Never Have I Ever, and you’re playing with us.” Of course, it’s Bellamy Blake with her earbud in his fingers, loud music still blaring from it. 

“I don’t drink,” she says, glancing around at the others before tugging her earphone back from him. 

“Hold on a minute!” Green says right before she puts the earphone back in. She hesitates as he digs through his backpack before pulling out a juice box and holding it up proudly. “We drink whiskey, you drink apple juice. It’s basically the same thing.”

The others roar with laughter, and Clarke can feel herself flushing, just slightly. A part of her wants to say no – a large part (probably the majority part) – but she reminds herself that it’s supposed to be fun. It’s a game, after all. And she won’t be drinking. So she turns off her music and nods, trying to give the others a smile. “Sure. I’m in.”

“Great,” Jordan responds as he pulls out red Solo cups from his backpack, and as he pours out alcohol for the others, Clarke briefly wonders if Green and Jordan have any hiking supplies at all between the two of them. Judging by what she’s seen, she wouldn’t be surprised if their bags were filled with bottles and weed. 

“Alright, who’s going to start?” Octavia asks as Green pours Clarke’s juice into a cup.

“I’ve got one,” Bellamy offers, leaning back in his position with a smirk. “Never have I ever fallen in love.”

“Starting off with the real tough ones, huh?” Jordan asks with a grin, but he doesn’t take a sip. Green and Reyes lift their cups to their lips, and Octavia’s eyes widen immediately. 

“Raven, you were in _love_ with--?”

“Shut up!” the girl protests, rolling her eyes. “I was a kid, and I was into him. You don’t do things by halves when you’re a teenager.”

“I managed,” Bellamy says mischievously, and Reyes rolls her eyes yet again. 

“Yeah, that’s because you’re a heartless jerk.” Weirdly enough, the words sound affectionate to Clarke’s ears, even though the girl is aiming a kick at Bellamy’s shins as she says it. 

“Alright, okay, my turn,” Jordan says, raising his glass. “Never have I ever had a boyfriend.”

“Damnit, Jasper,” Reyes protests after she takes another sip, along with Octavia and Green. “That’s foul play. You can’t use your lack of ability to get consistently laid against us like this.”

Clarke's grin is a little tight as everyone else laughs, but no one seems to be looking at her. Ducking her head, she stares down at the beverage in her cup as Green clears his throat. 

“Here, let’s do something more fair. Never have I ever met a celebrity.”

Bellamy and Jordan immediately trade looks and groan before both taking a sip. Of course, Octavia’s on them immediately. 

“Who have you two met?”

“We ran into this comedian at the supermarket. Demetri Martin,” Bellamy explains. 

Jordan adds on, “we’re… not actually a hundred percent sure that it was him, but it’s a good story, so let’s just pretend we totally talked to him and got autographs or whatever.”

“You two are fucking ridiculous,” Octavia says with a laugh. “Alright, my turn, right? Never have I ever smoked weed.”

“And you call ours unfair?” Jordan asks playfully as all the boys take a sip. Clarke bites her lip and abruptly gets to her feet. 

“I… need to go make a call. Um, sorry. I guess I quit or whatever,” she says nervously before setting her cup down and leaving their booth, stepping out into a different compartment.

Leaning against the wall, she sighs, blinking back the stinging at the corner of her eyes. She hadn’t realized that playing a simple game would make it so obvious that she hasn’t done anything with her life. With a long sigh, she takes out her phone, unlocking it to find a barrage of notifications from her mother and Kane. She snorts roughly before texting her mom.

On the train. Sorry this was so abrupt. Be back in a couple weeks.

And before she can turn off the phone, her mom texts back. She pauses for a couple seconds, then hits the notification with her thumb to read the text. 

Have fun. <3 

If only she knew how to.

\---

Ten hours is a long, long time, but with a combination of napping, listening to music, and studying – yes, studying, despite the incredulous look on Bellamy’s face when she pulls out a neuroscience textbook from her backpack – she manages to make it.

It’s been a tiring day, having to interact with and talk to and smile at people she barely knows. Once they get to the hotel and her suitcase and backpack are neatly put away in the room she shares with Reyes and Octavia, she’s ready to curl up on her bed with a good book. 

Which is the exact moment, of course, the two other girls enter the room, arms slung around each other’s shoulders. “Clarke!” Octavia yells, far too loudly for the small room they’re in. “We’re hitting up the bars in town tonight. You want to come along?”

“We know you don’t drink,” Reyes says immediately, holding out her free hand placatingly. “But you can have fun without drinking, per se.”

“And you need a designated driver?” Clarke asks pointedly. Judging by the way the two girls start laughing, she’s hit the nail on the head.

“Please, will you? It’ll only be fun if you come.”

“Right, because if I come, all of you can get drunk.” She’s about to say no – after all, there’s a very interesting Agatha Christie mystery waiting for her on her bedside table – but this trip isn’t about saying no. Despite how disappointing the train ride was, she can’t give up on having fun now. “Alright, let’s go. Where are the rental vans?”

“Yes!” Octavia crows, pumping her fists in the air. “They’re right in front – you go with Raven and I’ll get the boys.” She scampers off, and Raven gives her a smile. Clarke can’t quite smile back – this was exactly the one-on-one situation she wanted to avoid with this girl who had once dated Finn – so she brushes past her out into the hallway. 

“So Clarke, you were pre-med in college? What was your major?” she asks, and Clarke’s thrown back to all of the freshman forced bonding activities she’d had to attend in her first year. 

“I double-majored. Neuroscience and biology. There was lots of overlap, but it was interesting,” she explains, shoving her hands into her pockets. 

“Same here! I mean, not the science part. I don’t have a head for that sort of thing. But I’m double-majoring mechanical and electrical engineering. It’s killer – I haven’t actually graduated yet, gotta finish up my fifth year this fall and next spring – but I love the work.”

There’s something endearing about the way she talks about her passion, Clarke notes. Studying something and really loving it are two different things altogether. Not to say that she doesn’t like her own major – she’s certainly excited to be a doctor. It’s been her dream for her entire life. But Raven looks like she’s had a lot more fun with her dream than Clarke’s had. 

“Thanks a lot for driving us, by the way,” the other girl continues. “I know it’s no fun to be the one sober person, but we’ll try not to get too bad. It’s just been a while since the six of us were together. 

“I totally understand,” Clarke is quick to assure her. “I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

“You’re not intruding, idiot. We all want to get to know you. Even Bellamy, and he thinks he’s better than everyone when he meets them for the first time.” Her tone is matter-of-fact as she reaches the rental, unlocking it with the keys in her hand. 

“How can you tell?” she asks as she slides into the driver’s seat, waiting for Raven to sit down next to her and pass her the keys. 

“You mean, that Bellamy wants to know you? I don’t know,” she says with a shrug. “I’m just getting this vibe.” After a short pause, she adds on, teasing, “oh, and he said he’d only come out with us tonight if you came too.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s because he wants to make fun of me,” Clarke says exasperatedly as she backs the car out. “I suppose we have to pick the rest of them up, hmm?”

Raven gestures extravagantly at the windshield. “Lead the way.”

\---

The bar the six of them end up at is dark, a little grimy, and exactly the sort of place Clarke would’ve stayed far away from usually. Instead, she’s leaning against a wall, watching as Bellamy misses the cups for the fifteenth time in a row. Green and Jordan groan, the girls cheer, and Clarke finds herself actually smiling as Bell takes another drink, visibly moving from tipsy to drunk. 

“I can’t believe you’re losing when you have more people on your team,” Octavia chuckles, pressing the back of her hand to her lips to stifle her giggles. 

“You gave us the worst guy in the room, please,” Jordan protests, rolling his eyes.

“How is this even so hard?” Clarke asks Bellamy playfully, raising her eyebrows at him. 

“Shut the fuck up, Griffin,” he slurs, shooting her a grumpy look. “As if you’ve ever played this before.”

“Come on, then, Blake. Let me play,” she says boldly, approaching their team. “If I miss, you can drink for me. And it’s not like I’m going to miss any more than you would’ve.”

“Fighting words, Griffin,” he taunts. “And anyway, this is the guys team.”

“Actually, at this point? We’ll take anyone,” Jordan cuts in quickly. “I don’t think you realize how badly we’re losing, Bell.” Green’s puppy dog eyes only affirm his words, and Clarke laughs as she takes her place at the table. 

“You’re going down, Clarke,” Raven calls from the other end of the table, easily sinking a ball in one of their cups. Jordan drains it before handing her the ball, and she takes a deep breath before aiming. 

A flick of her wrist, and the first ball lands cleanly in the middle cup of Raven and Octavia’s arrangement. The two boys yell loudly and thump her on the back as Bellamy crosses his arms in the periphery of Clarke’s vision. 

Another ball is pressed into her hand, and she narrows her eyes before letting it fly. This one bounces off the table before landing in another cup, and the two girls groan. 

“I take it back,” Raven complains after downing one of the drinks. “I want Clarke on our team.”

“Seconded,” Octavia says with a pout. 

“The early bird gets the worm,” Monty says proudly, slinging his arm around Clarke’s shoulders. This sort of casual touch is unfamiliar to Clarke, but definitely not unwanted. “Or, well, the terrible team gets the unexpectedly good player.”

Instead of trying to be eloquent, Jasper just sticks his tongue out before downing a cup, even though no balls have been thrown. Clarke glances at Bellamy, unaware of exactly how wide she’s beaming, and she sense something like approval in his gaze. 

Not that she’s looking for it. But it’s good to know that it’s there. 

\---

Mornings at the base of the Appalachians are incredibly peaceful.

This is what Clarke discovers, sitting on the balcony of their hotel room with a hot tea and a notebook with physiology definitions. The air around her is quiet and peaceful, though she suspects that has more to do with the hangovers that everyone is nursing rather than the morning itself. 

Last night was… surprisingly fun. Even without drinking alcohol, clinching a win for the boys had made Monty and Jasper worship her – and Blake had ruffled her hair, though she wasn’t sure whether that was because of her performance or because he was so drunk he didn’t know where his hands were landing. 

But when it came down to it, she was still happy to sit here quietly and go over her work. It had been a good experience, but it hadn’t changed her. 

As time goes on, people slowly begin to stir, and she can start to hear murmurs of movement in the hallway. And by noon, lunchtime, the only person of the six in their group still asleep is Octavia.

“We’re here to wake a certain Blake up!” Monty and Jasper announce as Clarke opens the door for them after they knock. 

“Good luck. She’s face down in bed, still in her outfit from last night,” Clarke says with a little laugh as they traipse into the room, making a beeline for Octavia’s single bed. 

“It’s okay, we got this,” Monty assures her as Jasper grabs Octavia’s phone, going through her music. Finally, he seems to find a song, as he smirks at the other two before plugging the phone into portable speakers. 

A heavy drum line begins to play, and he sets the speaker and phone down on the bedside table in favor of jumping around with Monty as Octavia groans. Clarke immediately recognizes the song that’s blaring when Monty and Jasper start singing along. Chelsea Dagger, the Fratellis. Only one of the most played songs on her own phone. 

“Oh my god, shut up,” Octavia protests, trying to tug her covers over her head as they simultaneously pull them off her. In the midst of their flailing, the girl knocks the speaker off the sidetable into the wall, causing the song to abruptly stop and Jasper to drop to his knees in horror. 

Monty slowly trails off with his singing, and the two boys look at each other in surprise when they both realize they’ve forgotten the words without the Fratellis to back them up. 

Clarke looks between them in surprise before continuing. Her voice isn’t great, but this song is _iconic_. How could anyone forget the words? “Gave me gear, thank you dear, bring your sister over here…?”

“You know this song?” Jasper demands incredulously. 

“Who doesn’t, idiots?” Octavia asks, having finally sat up in bed. “Let her dance with me just for the hell of it.” Clarke grins and nods in response, and Octavia smiles back. 

Before throwing one of her pillows and hitting Monty straight in the face. “That’s for waking me up.” Jasper isn’t fast enough to dodge the second pillow that comes his way. “That’s for forgetting the words.” Octavia jumps out of bed, stretching slightly before she reaches out to take Clarke’s hand and pull her along beside her. “Come on. Get ready and come with us.”

Even if Clarke wanted to refuse, she couldn’t argue with the iron grip that the younger Blake has around her wrist. And she’s surprised to find that the voice inside her mind that usually warns her against silly things like, say, hiking up a mountain, isn’t piping up to give her useless scoldings today.

“I’m coming. And I think you’re the one who needs to get more ready than me,” Clarke teases Octavia, “starting with your outfit. These clothes stink.”

“Point taken,” the girl says, opening her suitcase and retrieving a shirt and pants. “Wait for me, then, okay? Don’t leave without me.”

“We’ll wait too,” the boys claim, sitting on the edge of her bed and watching her as she slips into the bathroom.

“Don’t care. You can go. Clarke just has to stay,” the girl calls before slamming the door shut.

“I will,” Clarke calls back, a stupid kind of smile on her face as she retrieves her notebook from the balcony and puts it away. Hearing Octavia say something like that is way nicer than expected. And for the first time since she booked this ticket, she feels that maybe, she’s more excited than nervous about what’s going to happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> your support so far has been incredible, and has inspired me to write instead of studying for finals. thank you xoxo  
> you can look forward to some intense b + c bonding next chapter. <3  
> unbeta'd as usual.


	3. more than you bargained for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from: "sugar, we're going down", fall out boy.

“Does everyone understand the safety regulations?” their guide shouts, and the group responds with a resounding affirmative. There’s about twenty or twenty-five people on this hike, and the group seems to vary in skill. No one there seems to be a particular pro, and Clarke notices quite a few who look like they haven’t got a clue as to what they’re doing. It’s a little reassuring.

“Now, then. For our first day, I thought I’d set up a little challenge,” the guide announces. “The maps that were given to you mark the point where we’re going to rest tonight. We’re going to split up into two teams, and whoever makes it to the point first, their team gets to take it easy tonight. The other team? Has to set up camp, cook dinner, and clean up afterwards. Who wants to be team captains?”

Clarke’s hand is in the air before she knows it, and she internally curses herself. By now, it’s pretty much subconscious – when there’s a chance to be a leader, she takes it, whether or not she knows what she’s doing. She’s just naturally competitive, always wanting to be the best and always getting inflamed when she isn’t. She knows it isn’t a good habit, but here she is anyway, signing up to try and out-hike another group of hikers when she’s never done this before. 

“Blonde girl and guy next to her. You two are the captains,” the guide says, pointing to her and someone else. She whirls around to see Bellamy raising his hand, giving her an easy smirk, and all doubts about what she’s just done go out the window. 

She’s going to beat him, and she’s not going to let anything or anyone stand in her way. 

Most of the others want to take it easy. When the guide signals the beginning of the hike, people laze around, climbing a few feet before taking pictures of the view or stopping to chat. Not Clarke, though. Clarke has a single-minded determination to get to the peak before anyone else. (And the selfie camera on her phone is pretty shitty anyway.)

It doesn’t take long to understand the technicalities of hiking. She keeps herself perfectly hydrated, finds the easiest paths to take, and checks her map constantly. Within a few hours, after a short break for lunch, she can see the orange flag that marks their campsite for the night. It’s still far off enough in the distance that it’ll take a bit of time to reach, but she’s got nothing but time. 

She takes a moment to breathe in deeply, a smile coming over her face as her lungs fill with crisp, mountain air. She’d never realized how nice it’d be to be this high up, and she feels the urge to take a break and sketch the view from this point. But that could wait, she sternly tells herself, until she’s gotten to the campsite and beaten Blake.

Speak of the devil, and he’ll appear. Her thoughts are interrupted by the crunch of frost under boots, and she looks over her shoulder to see Bellamy approaching. Smile fading from her face, her expression turns persistent again as she spurs herself into action, taking long strides towards the campsite. Unfortunately, the several inches that Bellamy has on her means that he catches up easily, fingers grabbing at her elbow as he smirks down at her. 

“What’s the rush?” he asks calmly, and Clarke has to resist the urge to actually pout in front of him. He knows very well that she wants to prove herself – and he knows that she knows it’s stupid to get fired up over a simple race like this. 

Will she ever admit that? Not a chance. “Are you deaf, Blake? Didn’t you hear what the guide said? It’s a race.”

“Take it easy, Princess,” he says with a snort as he gestures to a couple of rocks, taking a seat on top of one of them. “Contests like these are supposed to be _fun_. Not life or death.”

Clarke twists her lips, then sits down carefully, but her wary gaze doesn’t leave Bellamy’s face. “I don’t like losing,” she says slowly, folding her hands in her lap. 

“It’s not about the goal, Griffin. It’s about the ride.” Bellamy seems incredibly proud of that line, lifting his chin smugly. “Number One on Bellamy Blake’s list of Life Lessons.”

“Said every person trying to be inspirational, ever,” she retorts. “You know, you’re nowhere near as cool as you act.”

“Rule Number Two: fake it till you make it.” Clarke actually groans out loud at that one, and he bursts out laughing. “Seriously. Life’s not that big of a deal.”

“It is if you’re going places,” she responds scathingly, turning away from him to inspect her pack even though there’s nothing that really needs checking.

“Are you trying to needle me about my lack of ambition? Because that really won’t work.”

“Oh, darn.” Her sarcasm seems to amuse him, though, and she can’t help but smile a little in response to his toothy grin, though she’s still definitely not making eye contact with him. 

“Griffin, you do the world a disservice by smiling as rarely as you do.” And the hesitant lift of her lips is gone, replaced with a flat stare that she levels at him. 

“If poking fun at your lack of direction doesn’t work for you, then flirting doesn’t work for me,” she says blandly. “Cut it out.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says immediately, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. When he speaks next, it’s absolutely casual, but it gets Clarke’s hands curling into fists anyway: “I guessed you wouldn’t be the type.”

“What, are you assuming that girls who are nerds don’t like being told they’re pretty? That’s not it. It’s that I don’t prefer it, and--” Whatever she was going to say, she abruptly stops as Bellamy leans closer, a little too far into her personal bubble for her to feel entirely comfortable. “Um…?”

“It’s not that,” he says, just a hint of laughter in his voice. “You’re just not the type of girl to flirt with. You’re the kind of girl that people fall in love with.”

His brown eyes are distractingly close, and Clarke almost can’t put together her next sentence. “You know, I’ve never thought about it like—Bellamy Blake, are you trying to tie my laces together?” She yanks her feet away as she thankfully notices his fingers moving near her shoes out of the corner of her eye. 

“Damnit,” he swears briefly before jumping up from his seat and dashing towards the peak. “Good talk, Griffin!” he calls over his shoulder as Clarke stumbles to her feet and runs to catch up with him. Goddamnit. 

Despite his longer stride, she’s a faster runner than him – and either way, they’re both hindered by their heavy packs, though Clarke’s isn’t quite as bulky. By the time they make it to the campsite, they’re right next to each other, reaching out for the flagpole, and-

“Wow, from where I was watching, that looked like a tie,” the guide says admiringly from his spot near the campfire, grinning at the two of them. “Should’ve brought a high-speed camera, huh?”

“You little cheat!” Clarke gasps out as she pants, ignoring the guide – but she’s got a breathless smile on her face as she shoves Bellamy, who staggers a little under the force of her push. She’d never say it out loud, but having someone like Bellamy mess around with her like they’re friends is a good feeling.

“I’ve got to say, I’m impressed that didn’t work,” he admits with a grin, taking out his bottle of water and drinking heavily. Clarke mimics his actions, wiping at her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket when she’s done. “Most girls would’ve fallen for it.”

“I sincerely doubt that. Hey- who’s going to set up camp, then?” Clarke asks the guide as the thought suddenly strikes her.

“Well, since it was a tie, it’s only fair that both teams pull their own weight. Teamwork and all that.” The heavy shrug that accompanies his words speaks worlds about what he thinks of teamwork.

Clarke and Bellamy get to work as others begin trickling into the campsite. If it were any other day, Clarke would keep to herself – but today, she high-fives Raven and Jasper as they make it to the campsite. She laughs as Monty and the guide get into a passionate discussion over the effectiveness of different brands of walkie-talkies. She muddles through pitching a tent with Octavia, and their finished product actually turns out decent. 

_This is what it feels like to have friends_ , she thinks as Octavia collapses against her with a loud huff of relief. _It’s not actually that bad._

\---

“Hey, Griffin,” Bellamy calls, and Clarke winces, trying to curl up even tighter in her spot by the fire. No matter how fun it’s been, the day has been long, and she’s looking forward to taking some time for herself, studying a little more before turning in for the night. Her luck isn’t with her now, though, and he approaches her. Just a glance at him tells her that he’s frowning, crossing his arms and looking down at her. “Why don’t you come to the party?”

“What party?” she asks, against her better judgment, still not looking up from her book.

“One of the other groups is throwing one. It’s the one with all the Europeans. Their camp is just a ten minute walk from here. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“It’s not my kind of scene,” she says with a shrug. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. You go ahead.”

“Of course it’s your kind of scene. You proved that last night. You do remember last night, don’t you?” he demands.

“Yeah, I think I’m still going to pass,” she responds, turning a page in her book as if her focus is still on her studies. 

“Why don’t you want to go?” he protests, turning to the nearest person to gesture at Clarke as if she’s ridiculous. Said nearest person – Monty, in this case – just shakes his head, communicating clearly that he doesn’t want to get involved. 

“I literally just told you I’m not interested,” Clarke says again, rolling her eyes.

“Princess, are you even listening to me? What do I have to say to get through to you?” He puts one hand over the pages of her textbook, splaying his fingers so that she has no choice but to look up at him with a frown. Slowly, surely, he says, “All I want to do right now is play beer pong with you and beat asshole foreigners. You are the only person who can make this night fun for me. How many languages do I have to say this in?”

“How many times have you gotten rejected in your life?” she retorts, raising an eyebrow. “Because you’re really not handling this well.” He seems taken aback, so she continues as long as she has the upper hand. “Today was kind of a long day for me, so I’m going to do some reading and turn in for the night. Do I need your permission for that?”

Bellamy just opens and closes his mouth for a couple seconds, then scowls as Monty bursts out into laughter. “Forget about it, Bell,” the boy says, nudging his shoulder. “I’ll stay behind with her and keep her company. You go catch up with everyone else.”

“Fine.” He gets to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets, then mutters, “Sorry,” before walking off quickly. 

“He’s such a child,” Clarke scoffs, turning back a page in her book so that she can reread the section, actually focusing on in this time. 

“He just wants to keep our little family together. That sort of stuff is important to him,” Monty says, collapsing next to Clarke and resting his arms on his knees. 

“And what, I’m a part of that family now?” she asks, teasing in her own sarcastic way. “I never signed up for that.”

“It’s non-negotiable. You got lumped in with the rest of us the moment you signed up for this trip,” he jokes in return. “It’s not a bad place to be, trust me.”

“Yeah, I surprisingly figured as much. Don’t tell him that, though.” He starts laughing again, and Clarke shakes her head, asking, “what?”

“Oh, nothing. Here, what are you studying? Let me quiz you on it.” Monty takes the book from her, giving her a term to define, and Clarke only hesitates a moment before going along with it. 

As rowdy and fun as their group can be, this is nice too. ‘Family’ might be a better description of how they are than she thought.

\---

“Well, I want you all to take a moment to pat yourself on the back,” the guide says on the fifth evening of the hike, once they’ve gotten to the campsite for the night. “We’ve reached the peak of this trip. It’s all downhill from here.” 

His words are met with an odd response – a mixture of cheers, boos for the terrible pun he made, and two loud protests from Clarke and the boy standing next to her. 

“What about the site up there?” Clarke demands, pointing up at the orange flag on the peak of the mountain. It’s not that far away – maybe a thirty minute hike from their location, but their guide looks a little abashed when she points it out. 

“We’re not actually allowed to let you guys up there,” he says apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck as he speaks. “There’s an urban legend that a drunk guy went up there once and, um, pissed at the top of the mountain. And… the mountain got angry and he was never seen again.”

“Are you kidding me?” Bellamy asks with a rough snort. 

“I know it sounds stupid, but there are tons of stories since that legend came around about people disappearing when they hike up there, so we’re technically prohibited from taking any group past this point. So this is where the hike has to end.” Clarke and Bellamy start booing him, and he scowls, waving them off. “Go set up camp, you preschoolers.”

“I’m not going to let that guy stop us from going up there,” Bellamy says later that night over dinner. “If he ‘technically’ can’t guide us up there, we’ll go ourselves.”

“You and what army, B?” Octavia asks, raising an eyebrow. “I’m already exhausted from today.”

“Same. And aren’t you two meeting up with some nerds from the European camp?” Raven asks. 

“Yeah, the guide’s taking Monty and I over there to game with them,” Jasper responds with a shrug. “Sorry, man. Maybe next time?”

Bellamy doesn’t respond, but Clarke notices how his jaw is set in irritation. She’s about to offer to go along – she’s curious too, after all – but he gets to his feet instead and heads for his tent. If he had any less self-control, his lips would be set in a pout, and the thought nearly makes Clarke laugh out loud. The others demand to know what’s so funny, but she just shakes her head as she finishes off her last s’more for the night, licking the marshmallow goop off her fingers. 

Once dinner is done, the group parts ways. Octavia and Raven fall asleep almost as soon as they enter the tent, collapsing onto their sleeping bags. Clarke, on the other hand, gets her pack together as quietly as possible, though she’s sure not even a bomb would wake the two girls up at this point. Thanks to their guide being off gaming with the boys, she doesn’t bother being very sneaky as she leaves her tent, heading up the path to the bright flag at the peak of the mountain, lit up by the full moon hanging overhead. 

Her quick pace means that she soon sees a familiar figure making his way up the mountain as well, just a few paces in front of her. She _could_ catch up with him, but considering he didn’t even ask her in the first place… 

Well, she decides to use the scattered foliage around the path to her advantage instead, slipping between trees as she rushes up the trail. The rustling of the shrubbery around her makes him pause, letting her catch up to him even faster. While he’s looking around to find the source of the noise, she pitches her voice low and lets out an eerie ‘oooooh’ that’s surprisingly loud against the stillness of the night. 

Bellamy jumps, and she has to practically stuff her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing. “Who’s there?” he demands, stumbling around as he asks the question, and once his back is facing her, she emerges from behind a tree to tap him on the shoulder. 

“Jesus fucking—Griffin?” Without a thought, he spins to grab her wrist, only letting go in surprise when he sees it’s her. This time, she lets herself laugh out loud as he looks on, unamused. “What the hell was that about?”

“I wanted to mess with you. Why didn’t you ask me to come with you in the first place?” she asks. Clarke isn’t one to ever beat around the bush. 

“You know.” After a few moments of silence, he shrugs and says, “I didn’t want to be rude and press things, after that night with the party.”

“There’s a whole spectrum of options between pestering me to do something I don’t want to do and not offering at all. You realize that, right?” He doesn’t answer, but the huff of a sigh he lets out is apologetic enough for her, and she nods up at the flag. “Come on, let’s go.”

Their hike up to the top of the mountain is relatively quiet; only their footsteps interrupt the hush over their surroundings that has come with nightfall. It’s not awkward, though – at least, not for Clarke. It’s nice to have him this close, to occasionally knock elbows with him as they make their way to the peak. 

And when they finally make it to the flag, well, Clarke’s immediately sorry that people don’t usually come up here, because the view is absolutely gorgeous. “Whoa,” she breathes out as she collapses in a heap next to the flag, eyes taking in the gorgeous spread of colors from blacks to blues to deep greens in the very bottom of the valley. Scattered lights can be spotted from various houses, but as a whole, the scene looks untouched by nature. 

Just beautiful. 

“I’ve… never done anything like this before,” Clarke admits in a soft voice. Although they’re far enough away from camp to not wake anyone up, she doesn’t want to break the spell just yet. 

“Me neither.” His response is unexpected – not surprising enough to make her turn away from the landscape in front of her, but enough to make her frown. Apparently he notices her change of expression. “What?”

“I thought you’d be the type to do things like this all the time,” she says honestly, lifting a shoulder in a slight shrug. 

“Not at all. It’s the first time O and I have ever gone on any sort of vacation, actually.” He leans back on his hands, looking up into the night sky. “After our mom died, I had to take care of her and make sure she got through college. We never had the time – or the money – for something like this.”

At his words, Clarke glances up at him, only because her stomach sinks with guilt. Her mom and Kane had been so awfully scathing about the responsibility of taking such a vacation – it had never occurred to any of them that this might just be a highlight in a hard life. 

“I never would’ve guessed,” she responds honestly, trying for warmth in her tone. “Octavia’s a really happy person. I think… even if you two struggled and couldn’t do things like this, I don’t think it hurt her.”

He looks away from the stars above to meet her eyes instead, and he seems a little shocked before he cracks a smile. “Thanks, Princess. Good to know I haven’t completely failed as an older brother.”

“No, I think you’re okay,” she says easily, nudging his shoulder with her own with a little smile. “See, my reasons for not having done this before are just that I’m a nerd who doesn’t have fun. You already knew that.”

“I think you’re plenty fun, Griffin.” She wants to laugh, but something about his words seems oddly earnest. “And you’re not a nerd without a cause. You’re going to med school and you’re years younger than me, for Christ’s sake. I never even went to grad school.”

“You took care of your sister instead. I think that’s a pretty good reason for not going.” Clarke sighs before turning back to the valley below them. It takes a few minutes before she asks, “so what would you study if you could go back to school?”

“History.” The answer is prompt, without a moment’s hesitation. “A focus on Greek and Roman history, but anything, really.”

“Seriously?” 

“What, is it weird?” 

“No, I just… I didn’t expect you to be into history. That’s all.”

“Well, since you can’t major in bartending, I decided to go with the second best option,” he says dryly. “But yeah, seriously. I’ve been interested in history since I was a kid.”

“That’s cute. I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid too. It’s… crazy to be getting close to actually accomplishing that dream,” she admits, her voice getting quieter as she finishes the sentence. 

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’re going to get a metric shit-ton of new dreams to pursue once you finish med school. And I’m sure you have more than one dream at the moment, right?”

She looks back at him, with his easy posture and the way he can meet her eyes so honestly, and she says, “I don’t know if it counts as a dream, but I’d like to learn how to let loose.”

The grin he cracks at her words is beautiful. It’s not a word she’d usually associate with a guy like Bellamy, but as soon as it pops into her mind, she realizes that nothing else could really fit. He sits up a little straighter, then gets to his feet and offers one gloved hand to her. “We can do that. Just follow my lead.”

And out of nowhere, he cups his hands around his mouth and yells into the valley. He doesn’t say anything in particular – just forces out sound until he trails off, gasping for breath. The shout echoes around them for a long time before dissipating, and Bellamy turns to her with a wild look in his eyes. “Your turn, Clarke,” and she’s not sure if he’s noticed that it’s the first time he’s really called her by name, but she’s certainly not going to point it out. She’ll just let it settle warmly in her heart as she mimics him, sending out her own battle cry into the darkness of the night.

It’s a perfect way to mark the peak of their journey – letting out yells of pure excitement into the waiting valley below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a more realistic expectation of the wait between chapters, because i am trash.  
> thank you for your kudos and comments, they mean a lot! xoxo  
> next chapter brings us to the halfway point of the story and the end of the mountain arc.  
> unbeta'd as usual.


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